Empire of Tengaria

Empire of the Solarians Imperium Solarianum Imperi Solarnū
1385–1935
Imperial Banner Coat of arms
Motto: "УOИEA" or "UOIEA" "Universae Offertur Imperiae Eterna Auctoritas" "To the Universal Empire Eternal Authority is Bestowed"
Anthem: Бог да спаси владетеля Bog da Spasi Vladetelya God Save the Emperor! Royal anthem: "Колко е превъзходно Твоето име по цялата земя" "How Admirable is Thy Name in the Whole Earth!"
The Tengarian Empire at its greatest extent, in the mid sixteenth-century
Capital	Lenovo
Common languages	Solarian Tengarian Calian Armonian Savader
Religion	Orthodox Episemialism
Demonym(s)	Solarian (endonym) Tengarian (exonym)
Government	Mixed hereditary-elective universal monarchy
Imperator
• 1385-1408	Vasil the Great
• 1919-1930	Dragomir III
Minister President
• 1868-1875	Vladimir Borisov
• 1928-1930	Dragan Ivanev
Legislature	Senate
• Upper House	State Council
• Lower House	Chamber of Deputies
History
• Vasil Crowned as Emperor	1385
• Tengarian Golden Age	1385-1550
• Iconoclast Wars	1409–1441
• Green Revolution	1868
• Tengarian Republic declared	1935
Population
• 1500	5,000,000
• 1927	22,000,000
Currency	Solidus
Preceded by Succeeded by Empire of Arciluco Vicariate of Tengaria Tengarian Republic Kingdom of Amathia
Today part of	Tengaria Bistravia Ravnia Amathia

The Empire of Tengaria, officially known as the Solarian Empire or Empire of the Solarians (Solarian: Imperium Solarianum, Tengarian: Imperi Solarnū), and symbolically known as the Golden Throne (Solarian: Solium Aureum, Tengarian: Tron Aureom), was a sovereign power in Western Euclea, lasting from the collapse of the Empire of Arciluco in 1385 until its annexation by Amathia during the Great War in 1935, a period of over five centuries. During the early course of its history, it wielded considerable political, intellectual and spiritual authority in Western Euclea, but eventually lost these as the centuries wore on to the surrounding states as its political power declined. For two centuries, the Empire was the dominant geopolitical power in Western Euclea, before gradual territorial losses in the seventeenth century saw the rise of Soravia as the dominant power.

Comprised initially of the iconodule Western portions of the Empire of Arciluco, itself a claimed continuation of the Solarian Empire, the Empire continued the systems of Arciluco while the Eastern portion became the Iconoclast Realm of Thorns. The Ecumenical Patriarch of Arciluco Alexander III crowned the Vicarius and Comes of the West, Vasil, as Emperor, in 1385, after Vasil had been elected by the remnants of the Marea Adunare. The iconophile bishops of the Council of Lenovo further approved the translation of Imperial authority. After Vasil failed to recapture Arciluco from the iconoclasts, the Empire made a definitive Translatio Imperii to the city of Lenovo. Vasil's reign marked the beginning of the Tengarian Golden Age, an important period in West Euclean thought and art which saw the rise of the universities to Western Euclean thought, such as the University of Lenovo. At its largest extent, it controlled the majority of south-western Euclea, reaching from the hills of Western Amathia to completely controlling Lake Min, as well as having several client states and vassals.

Although it was nominally a universal monarchy, claiming spiritual descent from same universal sovereignty of the Empire of Arciluco which in turn claimed it from the Solarian Empire, this authority was not universally recognised. Ravnia, being iconoclastic, opposed them on religious grounds; the Duchy of Pavatria saw it as a geopolitical rival, and later took an Imperial title and became the Soravian Empire; and the Unio Trium Nationum and later the Kingdom of Amathia held that the Domnitor's authority which Amathia had once possessed belonged to them, as Tengaria had failed its conditional duty to liberate Arciluco from the Iconoclasts. This was further hampered when the area of Bistravia, which had been under Tengaria's direct control until 1771, was annexed by Soravia in the seventeenth century. Eastern sources rarely recognized the Imperial title the Tengarians claimed. Despite the various disagreements, however, there was a certain measure of respect even given by rivals to the office of the Emperor for the first few centuries.

With the continued political decline of Tengaria and the rise of Soravia and other states, the influence of the Empire began to decrease, until it finally fell into the sphere of influence of Soravia in the nineteenth century. However, at the beginning of the twentieth century, affairs began to improve within the Empire, with signs of economic development and intellectual revival. However, this was cut short by the Great War, which, while being surrounded on two sides against larger powers, was conquered by Amathian forces, who annexed Tengaria, bringing the Empire to an effective end in 1930, although a government-in-exile operated. The Empire was never formally abrogated, and the Tengarian Resistance during the war claimed to fight in name of the Empire, but due to the influence of Soravia and after the War, the Tengarian Republic was declared in its place in 1935. Since the proclamation of the Republic, there have been movements to restore the monarchy to its proper place; and although Imperial lands were restored to the claimants to the throne, the current government run by the Kovachev family, officially holds that to restore the Empire would be a manner of imprudence with the current state of global politics.

Nomenclature

The Empire was officially known as the Empire of the Solarians or the Solarian Empire (Solarian: Imperium Solarianum or Imperium Solarium, Tengarian: Imperi Solarnū or Imperi Solarne). This name was taken directly from the Empire of Arciluco, which called itself the Imperiul Solarian, and taken upon the coronation of Vasil as the continuance of the same Imperial administration which had existed in Arciluco for centuries. Vasil, himself a blood member of the os de domn, was elected in the lawful manner by the Marea Adunare, and the core western reaches had been part of the Empire for over nine centuries. At this point, there was also a real expectation that the Vasil's forces would be able to recapture the old imperial capital of Arciluco, which the failure to liberate later Amathian scholars would argue invalidated the Tengarian claim to the throne. Vasil's right to use the title of Solarian Emperor was first established by the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Synods of both Amathia and Tengaria, but also was confirmed by the bishops at the Council of Lenovo. Hence the primary basis for authority rested upon the spiritual authority of the Church; every Emperor after would use the title "Emperor in waiting" until his confirmation by the Partriarch and his coronation by the Patriarch in the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom in Lenovo.

One marked difference in the Imperial nomeclature between Arciluco and Lenovo was the symbolical and ceremonial name which the Emperors in Arciluco had used for the Empire, that of the Silver Throne (Solium Argenteum). The Silver Throne was the ceremonial throne of the Arcilucan emperor, made out of silver metal, and was a symbol of Imperial Power and Authority. After the translation of the Empire, Emperor Vasil commissioned artists to replicate the Silver Throne but to instead use gold as the base metal, in part because yellow had been the symbolic colour of the Western Vicariate. Hence the Empire in Lenovo was also known as the Golden Throne (Solarian: Solium Aureum, Tengarian: Tron Aureom). This adoption of the new throne would later provide a source of conflict between Imperial apologists in Amathia and Tengaria, with the Amathian apologists claiming that only the Silver Throne could signify Imperial Authority and with Tengarian apologists claiming that the Golden Throne is symbolic of the translation of Imperial Power.

Outside Tengaria, the Solarian name was only rarely used. Some states in Western Euclea refused to acknowledge it on theological or political grounds, such as Ravnia and Realm of Thorns, referring to the Tengarian rulers by their old title of Vicarius (Vicar) or inserting a lesser title and viewing them as pretenders. Amathia continued this practice even throughout the Unio Trium Nationum and Kingdom of Amathia, even after its reconversion from iconoclasm Ravnia began to address the Imperial title. Many countries referred to the Emperors only as Emperor of the Tengarians, omitting any notion of Solarian heritage whatsoever, although permitting the Imperial title for the sake of diplomatic courtesy or ease of translation. Most states in Eastern Euclea simply translated the title as Kingdom, including many historians and political scholars, since Tengaria had neither the territory or the power projection in their eyes to be considered a true Empire. Hence as an exonym, the polity came to be known as the Tengarian Empire or the Empire of Tengaria, the Empire of Lenovo or the Lenovan Empire, or alternatively as the Tengarian Kingdom or the Kingdom of Tengaria.

UOIEA

During his reign Emperor Vasil II began using the motto "UOIEA", usually in Solarian letters, but occasionally in Amathian letters. The motto is composed of the five vowels of the Solarian alphabet in reverse order. It appeared in various official documents and on buildings, and initially did not have an explanation, although a document from 1441 gives a defined meaning to it. However, several other meanings from his own time and beyond have surfaced in the writings of the Tengarian Golden Age, most dealing with the authority of the Empire and dealing with its universal nature. Vasil's successors continued to use the letters as a motto, and it soon became a standard of the Imperial House and the Empire itself. Even after the disestablishment of the Empire, one of the meanings concerning unity, was adopted by the Kovachev administration as Tengaria's motto.

The following list has several different meanings of the phrase. The first was the meaning ascribed by Emperor Vasil, while the third was the motto adopted by the Kovachevs.

 • Universae Offertur Imperiae Eterna Auctoritas ("To the Universal Empire Eternal Authority is Bestowed")
 • Universus Orbis Imperatur Ensi Aureo ("The Whole World is Ruled by the Golden Sword")
 • Unitas Obtulit Iustitiam et Armoniam ("Unity offers Justice and Concord")
 • Ut Omo Iomo Eliberastut XXXX ("In order that man liberates them ")

Political Theory

The Empire of Tengaria saw itself as a direct continuation of the Empire of Arciluco, as it was a core part of the old Empire and directly adapted many of its features and institutions. It held itself as possessing Imperium (Tengarian: Imperi), or Imperial power, which held that universal temporal authority of all Sotirian peoples was bound in one person who wielded this authority, and it was confirmed as divine by the Church through the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarch who had first conferred the authority. Thus the Emperor was considered as the paterfamilias of all Sotirian temporal rulers, and although he may not control their territory, his position was supposed to be seen as nominally preeminent. It was seen as the Emperor's job to be the protector and the steward of the Church against temporal threats. This was seen most prominently in Tengaria's involvement in the Iconoclast Wars, during which the Emperor was seen as the nominal headed the forces of the Iconodules against the Iconoclasts, or before the wars when Emperor Vasil the Great called the Council of Lenovo to solve the Iconoclast crisis.

This belief was reflected in the official style of the Emperors as Imperator and Domnitor of the Solarians and all Sotirians", also signifying the Empire's general authority over all true Sotirians in the wake of the Catholic-Episemialist Schism and the Iconoclast Wars. As the title was personal and not bound to a certain territory, it as such was considered retroactively as a popular monarchy. The monarchy itself also followed the old Arcilucan principle of os a domni ('marrow from the Domnitor') as being necessary for eligibility to the title, meaning that all monarchs had descent from Cyriacus the Elder.

Although the Empire's status as a continuation of the Empire Arciluco was relatively undisputed by non-Iconoclastic supporters in the early stages, its legitimacy was challenged by later Amathian scholars on two principal grounds: firstly, that the Imperial power was given so Vasil could retake Arciluco, and because he had failed, the ceding of Imperial power was made void; and secondly, various laws, customs and symbols of Arciluco had been changed by the Tengarian Emperors. In response to the second, Tengarian scholars proposed the idea of Translatio Imperii ("translation of the Empire"), which became an important term in political theory about the Empire. The concept of Translatio Imperii holds that although certain Imperial institutions, laws and customs underwent modifications as the centre of power was transferred from Arciluco to Lenovo, the Empire itself remained a direct continuation of the Imperium which the Solarians had possessed before the Amathians. According to these scholars, the power had passed to Lenovo instead of Arciluco because of their orthodoxy to Episemialism during the Iconoclast Crisis and adherence to God's Will while the Amathians had fallen into heresy. The Patriarch's role in deciding and crowning the new Emperor was evidence of the belief of divine sanctioning of Imperial authority.

Solarian Identity

Background

Although most Tengaria had never been part of the Solarian Empire in its first form, it had been an integral part of the Empire of Arciluco since the late fourth century, and became the heartland of the western half of the Empire. Integration with the Empire was deep following cultural Solarianisation of the Tengar tribes, and thus those living in the area had considered themselves as part of the true Solarian Empire for quite some time. Until the second half of the nineteenth century, when Marolevic nationalists began to conceptualise an idea of a "Tengarian nation", within the Empire terms such as "Tengarian", "Calian" or "Savader" were soley linguistic or geographical, as the people called themselves "Solarians", and many still do even in the current Tengaria. Usage of the term "Tengarian" as a name for the people of the country was for many years only an exonym.

Imperial Identity

As a way to boost their legitimacy, the Tengarian Emperors used Solarian trappings and propoganda prominently. They preserved Solarian as the language of the court and of scholarship. Many of the scholars and writers of the Tengarian Golden Age were prominent in promoting the country's connection to Solaria and to Solarian antiquity; the majority of written works from the first centuries of the Empire are written in Solarian. While Amathia switched entirely to the Apsinthian Alphabet, the usage of the Solarian script remained dominant. Solarian remained the liturgical language of the Tengarian Church even after Arciluco dropped its usage in favour of the venacular.

The rise of venacular literature only began in Tengaria in the eighteenth century, and even then contained heavy influences from Solarian. It was only beginning in the the nineteenth century with proliferation of nationalism stemming from the Weranian Revolution and Etrurian Revolution first began to reach Tengaria. Those who pushed for a "Tengarian national consciousness" in Tengaria following the Soravian Revolution were believers in revolutionary ideals and republicanism. The first major culmination of Tengarian Nationalism was the failed Green Revolution of 1868, which sought to replace the monarchy with a national republic. "Solarianism" became a symbol of support for the monarchy against a nationalism which was republican in nature.

The cultural revival in the late nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth centuries in Tengaria brought forth a renewed wave of Solarian identity, leading all the way up until the Great War. During the war, Simeon Kovachev's partisans, the largest and most official resistance group, called themselves the "Free Solarian Army", while the nationalist Tengarian State was massively unpopular. The implementation of the nationalistic Tengarian Republic saw some decline in Solarian identification, but the solidification of Solariantists behind the Patriot movement opposed to the controversial Stoychev regime eventually saw their victory when Kovechev took power and implemented the new constitution. Today, many Tengarians identify as both "Solarian" and "Tengarian".

Government

The government of the Empire was a mixed hereditary-elective monarchy, which claimed universal authority. Although every monarch was required by law to be elected by the Aduna Mara, in practice it was mostly hereditary accoridng to a system of agnatic primogeniture. As a continuation, much of the government structure and administration was inherited from the Empire of Arciluco, although over time the institutions underwent change. The monarch wielded significant authority and theoretically absolute power, the various division of local powers, in addition with the need to balance imperial administrations and social classes created at times an effective mixed-government.

Central government

The Emperor, who went by the title of Imperator or Domnitor was the supreme executive, said to be confirmed by Divine providence and the will of God. The Emperor was the embodiment of the lex animata, and had the authority to legislate as well as to govern and promulagte new laws. With the Emperor, the highest level of aristocracy was the class comprised the Imperial family, the House of Cyriacus, otherwise known as the os de domine or os a domni ('marrow from the Domnitor'), which included all male-line descendents of Cyriacus the Elder. This class possed the hereditas or eredita, or the ability to become Emperor, and the other members often served in the most vital governmental positions. This system was inherited from Ariluco, although requirements were made more strict for membership.

While the Emperor had in theory absolute authority, in practice governance was managed by a complex system of aristocracy and bureaucrats in the capital and magistrates and governors across the provinces. The highest of these were the logothetae or logothati, the chief ministers which assisted the Emperor in affairs of ruling and of state, the chief military commanders, and the highest ranking Archbishops of the Church, all of which wielded significant authority. Lower groups included various aristocrats, civil servants, judges, both at the central and provincial level.

Senate

See also: Senate (Tengaria)

The Imperial Senate, for the first four centuries of the Empire, largely retained the structure and function of the Senate in Arciluco, before it was reformed following the Green Revolution into the 'New Senate'. The 'Old Senate' was comprised of all the members of the Endemic Synod, logothetae, generals and major governors, all those with os de domine, aristocrats of families appointed to the Senatorial class, as well as several magistrates representing the lower classes. This Senate was an advisory body which would sporadically meet to advise the Emperor or to approve certain decisions made, and while it met regularly, many members eligible would not be present. The Emperor held the right to preside over meetings or to delegate the duty to another, and retained the right to veto any decisions made by the Senate.

The Old Senate's most important responsibility was meeting in a gathering known as the Adunatum Magnum or Aduna Mara, which convened following the death of the previous Emperor in order to elect the new Emperor. This session resided over by the Patriarch of Istros, who also held the right to veto a decision made by the Adunatum. Any member of the os de domine was eligible to become Emperor, however, in practice, the chosen successor or conventional heir was almost always selected by the Adunatum, barring certain exceptions.